Penang Restaurant – Bistro @Hardwicke House

This is the first time, I step inside Bistro @Hardwicke. This restaurant is located on the ground floor of Hardwicke House, the well maintained bungalow sitting in the corner of Jalan Pangkor and Jalan Sultan Ahmad Shah, Penang. I still remember visiting this place years ago with KS when it was still Mr Ho’s Fine Foods, in which I tasted roast pork with apple sauce for the first time.

This Bistro is made up of two sections, the bar and the restaurant. The restaurant has a cozy ambiance and elegant decorations with a beautiful chandelier hanging down the dining hall.

Besides ala carte, they do have on-going promotions and lunch set. I ordered a mixed green salad and the promotional Spaghetti Beef Bolognaise. The plate of spaghetti cost RM8.80 and surprisingly comes with generous amount of minced beef in rich tomato sauce, topped with herbs (more beef than spaghetti). It was served with a slice of toasted garlic bread.

Hubby is the only one having the set lunch. This set cost RM16.80, which is inclusive of the mixed green salad, pasta and a cup of coffee. It was a rather big serving of pasta with very fresh mussels in basil cream sauce.

My son opted for the Onion Steak Sandwich @RM25.80. All the sandwiches in Hardwicke comes with green salad and french fries. There were slices of grilled beef, onions, cheese, cucumber and fresh tomatoes, sandwiched between two pieces of focasia bread. The bread were indeed fresh.

This whole bungalow has a white exterior whereas the interior of the restaurant has a totally warm appearance of the red, yellow and white wall with a picture of the beautiful Miss Marilyn Monroe. There is even a sitting area for diners to chit-chat over a drink.

For dessert, we had the Chocolate Lava Cake @RM16.80 and freshly brewed coffee @RM6.00. The warm chocolate cake was served with my favorite Haagen Daaz vanilla ice cream. The hot warm chocolate melt goes fantastically well with the cold ice cream. It is very addictive and all of us love it.

Overall, a very satisfied meal. The combination of good food with reasonable prices and cozy ambiance makes this a perfect dining place. After trying out this light meal, I am sure my family and myself will be back soon to pamper ourselves with the steak and seafood. For more review on Bistro @Hardwicke, do check out this post presented by Lilian.

This is definitely a nice place for a celebration or a gathering. Lunch hour is at 11.30 am – 2.30pm and it resumes for dinner at 6.30pm – 10.30pm. The bar is open from 11.30am – 12.00 midnight.

Is this Bistro is the same as Harvey’s ? There was Mr Ho’s Fine Food before the Wine Bar plus the area beneath the staircase took over. Mr Ho’s Fine Food was known in KL but what he delivered to Penang was below my expectation. I think that could be 1 of the reasons it’s gone. I like the coffee and chocolate beverages they served there from Italy brand Molinari but most of time I’m at Gleneagles for their Molinari beverages instead 😀

I like the look of the building, so 60’s and 70’s such a preserve heritage, the food looks incredible and big portion worth the money spend but….. my opinion the decor looks too modern can be improve better!

Big Boys Oven – This building is a real beauty…and is very ideal for a restaurant and even offices. With the reasonable prices, I think this outlet will make its way through as compared to the earlier ones.

J2kfm – The dessert sure was tempting…especially so with the Haagen Dasz icecream. I too was surprised to see it. Warm and cold dessert…yummy.

i havent stopped drooling since I discovered thsi blog,…just a side note, I dun think the food prices will ever come down despite the fact tht the cruel oil price has halved compared to 6 months ago., there will always be another reason for the food sellers to legitimise their cost.

I used to think that dinning at Harwick is very expensive and no way for the normal people to go there. Not after I read your post and knowing that the pricing is really reasonable. The most important is the ambiance and the environment there is classy and elegent. I have to plan a visit there

If I did not remember wrongly, they used to serve fine food, anfd it cost a bomb. Or was it Harvey’s?! Anyway, I would definitely go for the steal sandwich. It is hard to fine good steak sandwich here.

Next cooking experiment, would be smoke pork belly that we had at Edelwise previously. If successful, I will share the recipe wih you.

Daphne – This restaurant is no longer on-going. The updated info is at the end of the post…it is now known as Khanna, serving Indian cuisine. Looks like you have to look for another place that serves Western Food.